New Delhi : Over to reels and reels of Budget telecast. And once again themessage is that entertainment may not be passe, but news is certainly in.Only recently, the Kumbh had thrown the TV channels into a tizzy to capturethe essence of the gigantic gathering. Then, it was a natural disaster - theGujarat earthquake - to which the news channels reacted with a similarcompetitive spirit. Coming up now is the Union Budget and TV channels arebudgeting for a major pie in it.Star News, Zee News, Aaj Tak, Sahara and Jain - all the major news TVchannels have lined up special bulletins for the pre-Budget days, the Budgetday and the post-Budget days. While all news channels will have expertsanalysing the impact of the Budget on the macro and the micro-economy, thefocus will be on the common man and what the Budget means to him.
Also, most of these channels have either tied up with companies or are inthe process of finalising the deals for advertisements during this period.Although TV companies are superstitious about naming the companies who havebought ad slots on channels, they're bullish on garnering good ad revenuesfrom the event.The Budget bulletins on Zee News will have two main sponsors and fourassociate sponsors. The bookings on Zee will close within a week. The StarNews sales team is also busy working out the modalities for the special ads.The relatively new entrant Aaj Tak will even have companies sponsoring thegraphic plates on the channel besides having sponsors and associate sponsorsfor Budget chunks. Similarly, Jain TV will have sponsors coinciding with itssectoral bulletins: IT companies sponsoring the section analysing the impactof the Budget on the IT sector and FMCG companies sponsoring for the slotdevoted to the FMCG sector, etc. Sahara TV is also working out an adstrategy for Budget.
Coming to the contents, Star is banking on Prannoy Roy for all the mainBudget bulletins from February 19 to March 3. The special Budget bulletinsto be aired over this period on Star will include `Budget Matters', `BudgetBattleground', `Market Update', `Budget and People', `Biggest Decision' and`Sawal Aap Ke', besides the live telecast of the Union Budget and theRailway Budget, according to Ms Jaya Ramanathan, senior vice-president, StarNews. The duration of these bulletins will be anything from four minutes toone hour each.
Zee News, says Mr Rohit Bansal, brand manager of the channel, isconcentrating on programmes linked to individual consumers, particularlyAssessee A and Assessee B. These are the people who will watch the Budgetprogrammes to find answers to the questions on their minds, says Mr Bansal.Giving a skip to the regular CII and Ficci views, Zee will look at theindividual concerns. From February 24 to 27, Zee will air the pre-Budgetbulletins titled `What I Want'. On the Budget Day (February 28), it willshow `What I Got'. And on March 1, it will show the post-Budget analysistitled `How I Feel'.
To be anchored mainly by Ms Shireen, who used to anchor the breakfast show -Good Morning India - on Star earlier, Zee's Budget package is called `MyBudget'. The channel, in association with ORG-MARG, has covered 10 cities inthe country looking at individual concerns.Aaj Tak too will look at theBudget's impact on the common man, says Mr G Krishnan, Executive Director ofthe channel.
TV channels gear up for Budget telecast The bulletins on this channel fromMarch 21 to March 1 will go beyond the metros to handle issues at otherplaces too. ``We're trying to ensure that our guests don't say similarthings on our programmes,'' says Mr Krishnan. The focus is on making theprogrammes interesting to keep the audience with the channel.
Sahara TV, says Mr Mahesh Prasad, president, Sahara, will do special Budgetbulletins only on the Budget Day. Apart from airing the Budget presentationby the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, the channel will havediscussions and eactions revolving around the event. While the guests on theSahara channel will include the Finance Minister and the top economists ofthe country, the Budget bulletins will be anchored by popular TVpersonality, Mr Vinod Dua, and Special Advisor to the channel and economist,Mr Vivek Bharati.
Jain TV also is also determined to make it a consumer-centred affair.``We'll be ahead of the other channels by a few minutes because of ourability to uplink directly,'' says the Business Editor of the channel, MrRanjit Monga. From February 26 to 28, the channel will look at the majorBudget issues. A special to this channel will be the sectoral analysis ofthe Budget. For instance, it will look at sectors such as automobile, IT,finance and consumer durables among others and what the Budget means forthese sectors. The main anchors of the Budget bulletins on Jain TV willinclude Mr Prem Shankar Jha and Mr Dilip Cherien.
On the whole, news is back with a vengeance and this time it's Budget news.As Mr Krishnan of Aaj Tak puts it: ``You get entertainment elsewhere too,but visual presentation of news is available only on television.''
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
